About 18,600 single parents in
Ontario who rely on both social assistance and child
support payments will see their incomes rise under rule
changes to be introduced early next year, according to
Thursday’s
provincial budget.

Currently, every penny of the
average $280 monthly child support payment to families
on social assistance is clawed back by the government,
meaning children are “no better off” and the parent
responsible for paying may feel little incentive to do
so, the budget notes.

Several options are under
consideration to ensure parents who receive child
support can benefit from more of this income, said a
government official. The change would be in place by
April 2017 at the latest, the official predicted.

Child poverty activists have
been calling for an end to the clawback for years,
pointing to British Columbia that ended the practice
last year.

“Ending the dollar-for-dollar
clawback is stellar news for single parents on social
assistance,” said Jennefer Laidley of the Income
Security Advocacy Centre, a legal aid clinic that
supports Ontarians on welfare and disability benefits.

Toronto single mother Damaris Bueno
saw none of her $400 monthly child support payments for
daughter Mia, 4, when she lived on welfare about 2 1/2
years after fleeing a violent home.

““This is great news,” said
Bueno, 41, who has been working a cafeteria since August
as part of an employment program for people leaving
welfare. “I am breathing easier now. But the extra money
will definitely come in handy for other women still on
social assistance.”

Ontario’s Liberal
government is giving free tuition to university
and college students from low-income families —
and taking more from motorists and homeowners
through costlier gasoline and natural gas.

Single mother Jennifer Gray,
41, refused to go on welfare two years ago because she
didn’t want to lose her $300 monthly child support
payments for her daughter Autumn, 9.

“This is amazing,” she said
about the government’s plans. “It will allow women to
work towards building a positive relationship with their
former partners. And more of them will likely end up
paying. Child support is for children.”

The change is part of the
government’s ongoing work to modernize social assistance
so that it “effectively reduces poverty, supports people
in their efforts to participate in the economy, and
provides human services in a way that makes sense to the
people who need them,” according to budget documents.

Also up for discussion is a
plan to work with researchers and community groups to
develop a pilot project to test the merits of a
provincial “Basic Income,” a form of guaranteed annual
income.

While the government
contemplates transforming income security, welfare and
disability benefits for more than 907,000 Ontarians will
rise by a modest 1.5 per cent this year.

Although the increase is more
than last year’s inflationary 1-per-cent hike, Laidley
and other anti-poverty advocates said it is not enough
to ensure people on social assistance “won’t have to
rely on food banks to feed themselves and don’t get
sicker as a result of their poor diets.”

As in past years, single
people relying on Ontario Works (OW), who receive the
lowest benefits, will see a top-up that will boost their
monthly income by $25. It will bring their maximum
monthly benefit to $706, a $100-a-month increase since
2012, according to budget documents.

A single person relying on the
Ontario Disability Support Program (DSP), will receive
up to $1,128 per month and a single parent with one
child on OW will get $1,078, including the Ontario Child
Benefit, scheduled to rise to $113 per month per child
in July.

The rate increases take effect
in September 2016 for ODSP and October 2016 for OW.

Nearly one in 10 girls and one in 20 boys say they have been raped or
experienced some other form of abusive violence on a date, according to
a study released Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Psychological
Association.
More..

Rick James Lohstroh, a doctor at UTMB, was fatally shot this summer,
apparently by his 10-year-old son.

ABC13 Eyewitness News, Houston, Texas, U.S.A.
Dec. 29, 2004

The 10-year-old Katy boy accused of murdering his father this summer
is now the face of an unofficial psychiatric disorder that may have lead
to his father's death.

Some psychiatrists call it Parental Alienation Syndrome and they say
that's why the son killed Doctor Rick Lohstroh last summer. The syndrome
is basically caused by a bitter parent who poisons a child against the other
parent, usually in cases of divorce.
More..

New Brunswick woman ruled responsible in burning
of baby's body

ST. STEPHEN, N.B. — A New Brunswick judge says a woman who burned and
dismembered her newborn son is criminally responsible for her actions.

Becky Sue Morrow earlier pleaded guilty to offering an indignity to a
dead body and disposing of a newborn with the intent of concealing a delivery.

Judge David Walker ruled Friday that the 27-year-old woman may have been
suffering from a mental disorder when she delivered the baby but that that
was not the case when the baby's body was burned and its remains hidden.

It is not known if the baby was alive at the time of birth.

At a hearing last month, the court heard contrasting reports from the
two psychiatrists. One said Ms. Morrow was in a “disassociated” mental state
when the crime occurred. The other said she clearly planned her actions
and understood the consequences.
More..